webslave

The problem is transmission capability and the "full face" of the trailer. That width and height is the show stopper, regardless of weight...your DJ was designed for pulling a trailer with very little wind resistance; a utility trailer with a load under 2500 lbs or a small pop-up that meets that weight limit loaded. I have towed RVs for quite awhile and my 21' Fun Finder weighed in at ~6000 lbs loaded and on the road. The quick, down and dirty, method for estimating the towing weight is to look at how many axles it has. The RV industry as a rule will put 3500 lb axles on a full size trailer, hybrid or not. If it has a single axle, you should still weigh it as that would indicate that it could be over 3000 lbs. loaded. If it has 2 axles, don't even bother to hook it up...definitely over the limit. Remember, on travel trailers, the "advertised" weight is always for the stripped down model as it rolls off the assembly line. I've never seen a TT that didn't have a few options and, as a rule, you can add 300-500 lbs. or more to its true empty weight. Add food and clothes, etc. and you can quickly be 700 lbs. or more over the advertised weight before you ever put it in drive. Another dead giveaway is whether it has its own brakes. Most states require brakes on any trailer with a GVWR over 3000 lbs.

Just put Toyo Vernado all season tires on my '13 RT...only have a few hundred miles on them now. Ride nice, wet and dry traction has been superb. Tread looks plenty aggressive for any snow that I would drive in, however, we don't spend our winters here...no snow in Benson, AZ and we tow our Cherokee TrailHawk when we load up the bus to get out of Dodge.

I'm retired now and (as the photo above shows) I'm investing heavily in the hearing aid industry. I see so many cars in town (another reason I moved to the boonies) that you can actually watch the sheet metal deflecting outwards due to the air the speakers are moving...not to mention you can hear / feel them a block away. None of these kids will be able to hear anything by the time they are in their 30's... Hearing aid companies; the money makers of the future Keep 'em loud, I need to make enough money to buy that Prevost I've got my eyes on

Lemons can be had in any product, any brand...had two Fords (Mustang and Thunderbird) that were repurchased by Ford under the "Lemon" law. Also, in my lifetime, have thrown away / returned many products that were just plain made or produced wrong...ever buy a bad carton of milk? It happens and I don't hold it against any company; no amount of quality control (good or bad) will catch all "lemons".

Definitely a Jeep thing! Don't have my Commander any longer, but, love my TrailHawk Yep...Jeep thing.

Had one on both sides of mine... H.R.T. MEMBER (Hummer Rescue Team)

Not to hijack the thread (and congrats OP...loved my minivans), but, I, lament the day my 2008 Hemi Commander went away. Great vehicle, but, it had served its purpose and I needed something to tow a 5th wheel, but, still miss that Commander...

Have to agree. The vortex units will pay dividends if you are a long haul trucker and in a fleet environment. They don't "pay for themselves" for even a single long haul truck. Not enough miles even at their rate. The compounded multiplication of mileage in the fleet scenario will save a few dollars, but, even then, the long vision is not enticing enough for fleets (that's why you don't see them; mileage vs. per unit cost is not enticing enough). You do see, however, other draft changing devices that have a lower cost / better pay back scenario...the under trailer air foils and now the "tail vanes" that we are seeing more of. I have seen far more of those devices than I have of the vortex additions...there is a reason.

If you are talking about a "running light bar", similar to what is on the KIT2000 car (remember that TV show?), then I would get a simple 12 volt relay, splice the relay into the hot line for one of the headlights, hook the led bar to the output side and then draw the power from the fuse box or the battery. The relay won't draw enough current to affect the output of the headlight, but, it will switch the light bar on when the headlights have power. Some states frown on the use of "display lights" used in general driving and I don't know of any states that allow high power off-road light bars in general use that is why I'm assuming that you are talking about a "display light"...depending on your state you might be able to get away that (similar to the "ground effect" lights). I would still put an on/off switch in the power feed to the light bar, just in case.

From the User's Guide: THEFT ALARM To Arm: • Press the Keyless Enter-N-Go™ Start/Stop button until the Electronic Vehicle Informa- tion Center (EVIC) indicates that the vehicle ignition is “OFF”. Press the power door lock switch while the door is open, press the Key Fob LOCK button, or with one of the Key Fobs located outside the vehicle and within 5 ft (1.5 m) of the driver's and passenger front door handles, press the Keyless Enter-N-Go™ LOCK button located on the door handle. NOTE: After pressing the Keyless Enter-N-Go™ LOCK button, you must wait two seconds before you can lock or unlock the vehicle via the door handle. To Disarm: • Press the Key Fob UNLOCK button or with one of the Key Fobs located outside the vehicle 12 and within 5 ft (1.5 m) of the driver's and passenger front door handles, grab the Keyless Enter-N-Go™ door handle and enter the vehicle, then press the Keyless Enter-N-Go™ Start/Stop button (requires at least one valid Key Fob in the vehicle). The alarm system will arm if you use the keypad on the armrest or the key fob/fobic. It will not arm if you have a key and use the door lock cylinder or if you manually push each door's lock plunger. IIRC, besides the lights flashing and horn blowing, that some models (high end) of the FMC (feels funny using that instead of MOPAR) line also included shifter locks and fuel pump interlocks; effectively disabling the car from being hotwired. I don't know which specific models included those features or, even if it is still valid, but, vaguely remember reading about it somewhere...

Along with the good information from jkeaton, I'll add that the DJ doesn't have the engine cooling or transmission cooling capacity required for any serious towing. The DJ's towing is aimed at a bicycle rack in the hitch or a small, open landscaping trailer. Before you rush out and buy an RV (travel trailer), even one within your DJ's weight limit, look up the frontal area restriction for your DJ. Regardless of the weight of the trailer, you will also find a "frontal area maximum" that is allowed. Frontal area and weight are the two biggest limiters for trailers. The ability to pull a large flat wall through the air at highway speeds demands much more from an engine / drive train, than does a smaller frontal area as found on popup RVs or utility trailers and boats. I've been RVing for quite a few years and the DJ is not a vehicle I would choose to pull an RV trailer.

Mine has the grab handles above the door also. I find them mostly useless for aiding getting in or out of the car. We (DW and I) are short, so the seats are forward. The grab handles wind up above and behind our heads providing no leverage for getting in or out. What ever happened to the "tried and true" A pillar handles? Wish they'd put them back in the vehicles...they were good for gaining leverage and stability and made good "panic" grips in those "sporty" situations where the passenger goes "white knuckle" with the excitement

Yep... Blew the PCM in my brand new Trailhawk 3 days ago... Wouldn't shift out of park and when I used the over-ride, no throttle response. Those computers that enable the "fly by wire" systems have their hooks into everything.

It isn't an issue if you drive the car daily. It can be an issue if the car sits for any length of time. I never had the problem until I had let the car sit for a week without driving it. If the OP already has a weak battery, and the high amperage draw of the diesel, it could be an issue. Your battery being dead on delivery may well have been a result of the same issue. The cars, when shipped, are supposed to be put into "transport mode" so that the battery doesn't go dead during transport (my dealer showed me the key presses required to put in the transport mode). If your car was not put into transport mode, your battery may have been weakened during transport and once delivered to the dealer, it wouldn't have been driven enough to recharge the battery. If they put your keys in the vehicle prior to your actually driving it away, that may have been enough to kill the battery.

I don't know of any specific TSBs that apply to your problem, but, I do own a diesel truck. Diesels require a huge starting amperage due to the high compression ratio of a diesel engine...that's why they don't need spark plugs. My truck for instance, because of the huge amperage draw, had two batteries. If your diesel only has one battery, the amp draw for starting will drain an already weakened battery severely and if it is only running for a minute or two (or less if you're only moving a few feet), the alternator has no chance to recharge the battery adequately. Doing that several times will cause damage to the plates to the extent that they will "charge", but, they won't hold a charge. Voltage only tells part of the story and doesn't relate well to the starting amperage or the ability to provide that amperage. The fact that your alternator is pumping 13.x volts into the battery does not mean that that voltage is being stored in the battery as amperage to be available. A charge level of 12 to 13 v, at rest with no load, does not indicate that the battery's amperage is adequate to start the vehicle. That is why battery tester equipment always tests the battery under a dummy load; that load demonstrates the ability of the battery to provide amperage and it is amperage that turns the starter motor, not voltage, and for a diesel, that amperage has to be provided quickly and continuously in order to overcome the high compression of a diesel and the motor has to run for an extended time to put that amperage back into the plates. Anything less, overtime, conditions the plates to not be able to provide that amperage on demand. My guess is that the plates are now sulfated, possibly even warped, by deep discharges and incomplete recharges. If you own a diesel, you can't start the motor, let it, basically, idle a few minutes while you move it to wash the vehicle at another spot on the driveway and then start it to move it back and expect the alternator to have enough engine speed and time to restore the amperage used to start the vehicle twice. That is one of the reasons, in the old days, truck and bus drivers, once they started their rigs let them run continuously until they were done for the day. Another consideration for that issue is, as noted earlier, parasitic draw and the Journey has parasitic draw in spades. I found out that merely keeping my keys hanging on a hook within 10' of the car caused the components to never "go to sleep". The DJ on shutdown leaves most of the devices "listening" for the key fob. If it hears a handshake from the fob, it stays active waiting for the impetus to start the show. I had a dead battery once because of that and have since learned to keep my keys in the bedroom so that the car will "go to sleep" and have not had any problems since then.